Fan Fiction / Brent Spiner

 

3 stars out of 5

Well, that was not exactly what I was expecting. I like memoirs. I like mysteries. Why not a combination of the two? I am a fan of Star Trek TNG and I heard Spiner interviewed a couple of times when this book was released. His chats with interviewers made it sound intriguing. I bit and put a hold on the book at the library.

Now I have issues with written humour. Sometimes I get it. This time I struggled with it. Plus I found it impossible to parse which parts were fact and which were fiction. Did Brent Spiner really have a stalker? Maybe, but I'm not sure. Spiner said in his interviews that he didn't care for traditional memoirs, but I actually do enjoy them. I would have been far more interested in a factual account by a guy who obviously has a lively intellect. 

I had no idea that Spiner was also a comedian and singer, as well as an actor. However, I would never have known that from the text of this book either. It was in the note about the author. My disappointment lies in the fact that I really didn't learn very much about the man. The grand total of my new knowledge? He's Jewish, he had an abusive stepfather, he spent a long time as a working actor before Star Trek came along, he had to be convinced to attend a StarTrek convention, and his makeup for that role was truly awful. That could have been a pamphlet, rather than 256 pages.

Still, the author had obviously enjoyed noir detective fiction, with its distraught dames, shady characters, violent threats, and murky motives. He had a good time playing with those tropes, but he's no Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. 

The Readaholics and the Poirot Puzzle / Laura DiSilverio

 

4 out of 5 stars

Another cosy mystery referencing Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. I enjoyed this one a lot, just as much as Mayhem at the Orient Express, which I read last month. Just a warning: if you haven't read the original Christie and you don't want to have the solution spoiled, read it before this book. DiSilverio assumes your knowledge of Poirot's adventure to inform this mystery.

I picked the first novel in this series last May because it was related to The Maltese Falcon, which I had recently read. The book club selection featured in the third novel is Du Maurier's Rebecca. I don't think I want to read that book again, but maybe I'll try another of her novels before I tackle it. But I will certainly read the third novel.

I'm somewhat disappointed that there are only three books in the series, but since the story is almost equally about Amy-Faye's romantic life, the scope is limited. She seems to be well on her way by the end of this adventure, so one assumes that things will resolve in the third novel. Like a fairy tale, things end “happily ever after,” as if nothing more of any consequence can happen to a woman once she achieves a relationship! Despite that, I like DiSilverio's writing. My library has a number of her other books which I will definitely put on my possible list.

If you like this series, may I suggest that you try Southern Spirits by Angie Fox, A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julia Buckley, or Mayhem at the Orient Express by Kylie Logan. And of course you must read Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.

What Abigail Did That Summer / Ben Aaronovitch

 

4 out of 5 stars

I adore Abigail. Love Peter too, but he wasn't around for this little tea party, was he? This is a decent sized novella and I'm glad that my library purchased it, as the price here in Canada is bloody exorbitant!

Ghost hunter, fox whisperer, troublemaker. This is not a young woman who is going to sit back and let the world run over her. I admire her intelligence and bravery, getting her friends and herself out of a dodgy situation. (Mind you, she got them into it as well).

If that wasn't enough, there's the talking foxes. Conducting surveillance no less and hoovering up cheese puffs, as any self respecting investigator would do, given the chance. I especially enjoyed Abigail's meeting with Control, the fox mastermind. Shades of John Le Carre, there. And the foxy story about how they lost the ability to speak (although they are unwilling to share how they regained it).

I do hope there will be more Abigail adventures (and judging from the ending, there will be).

2021 in Review

 For me, 2021 was generally better than 2020, but I am still finding myself to be a more moody reader. I have given myself more latitude to let go of books which don't really grab me. I try to be fair by reading a certain number of pages, but I don't force myself to keep going anymore. I've returned a number of unread library books, my own catch-and-release program.

My statistics say that I read 226 books in 2021, but I know that I reread a number that I didn't bother to record. This is the lowest number of books in several years. Despite this, I have still read an incredible amount and discovered so many books that delight and entertain. It's difficult to boil down the year to the best choices, but here are my favourite books of 2021.

My Science Fiction and Fantasy Reading Project: I used a month-by-month reading list this year to keep me on track with this project this year and came the closest yet to meeting my reading goal, finishing 45 titles. Several books got shunted to next year simply because it seemed that I hit what for me was a decline in the delight of the choices. If I can't face them next year either, they will be purged from my list.

My Favourite Reading Project Titles: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin and Lord of Emperors by Guy Gavriel Kay. Both are fantasy novels, unsurprising to me. Fantasy is truly my genre of choice. I find both worlds to be engrossing and enveloping. They leave me with a book hangover, needing a bit of processing time before I move on.

New Comfort Reading Series: Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries are now among my go-to books when I'm needing inspiration or a sure thing in my reading. It's a dangerous thing to pick up All Systems Red, because I know I'll be binge reading all six books. Thankfully five of them are very short, revving up my reading without distracting me from new material for long.

Favourite Canadian Novel: Sufferance: A Novel by Thomas King. Reminiscent of his earlier The Back of the Turtle (which I also loved) and also of his Thumps DreadfulWater Mysteries (which I highly recommend). Pointed social commentary concealed in a hilarious story set-up. I would also give his novel Indians on Vacation as a runner-up. Not without humour, but more serious in nature.

Favourite Classic Novel: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. Need I detail my delight? (This may be heresy, but I think I like this better than Pride and Prejudice).

Most Charming New Discovery: I loved Richard Osman's books, The Thursday Murder Club and The Man Who Died Twice. Talk about great roles for older people! Add in some interesting mystery elements, and I was in hog heaven.

Best Adventure of a Woman of a Certain Age: Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson caught me by surprise. I expected to like it, I didn't know that I was going to love it. I don't know why novels of this vintage (1930s) charm me, but I do enjoy them enormously.

Best Nonfiction: Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach. This woman consistently writes books that entertain, amuse, and inform me. Her sense of humour is compatible with mine and, yes, there is frequently talk about poop, but I'm okay with that. If you deal with livestock, you know what an important function that is.

My Shakespeare Project is currently on hold. My local theatre company is severely limited by covid restrictions and the cinema is not currently offering any Shakespearean films. There's an operatic version of Hamlet, but that doesn't really appeal right now.

Agatha Christie Reading Group: I am going into my second year of reading one of Christie's novels per month with a group of fans of her writing. We started in October 2020 and are reading them in publication order. It's fascinating to watch her writing and her characters develop. This is one reading task that I look forward to each month.

Other Random Books I Enjoyed This Year: Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots; Plan B and I Dare, by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller; The Library of the Dead by T.L. Huchu; Slough House by Mick Herron.

I wish you all happy reading in 2022! May the Goddess of Reading grant you concentration, patience, and, most of all, joy in your book selections.

The Ghost Fields / Elly Griffiths

 

4 out of 5 stars

I do love to start the New Year with a murder mystery, especially one in a favourite series. Ruth Galloway never disappoints. Or is that Elly Griffiths?

Time has passed since the last book. Katie is five and starting preschool. Ruth has told her it's okay to call Nelson Daddy. Nelson’s wife, Michelle, has apparently decided that what's sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose and she's flirting hard with a younger guy. Judy is heavily pregnant with Cathbad's child. Cathbad is still in the Druid business, but he seems like a pretty good dad and uncle despite that, although he seems to slipping in the prophecy department. Clough is just Clough, eating pies, drinking beer, and playing football. Frank, the American TV presenter is back, wanting to return to Ruth's good graces. She likes him, but how much? Does she want a permanent relationship?

Ruth gets the call when a WWII plane is found with a pilot in the cockpit. But the pilot is known to have bailed before the crash and this body shows signs of being buried elsewhere and posed dramatically just to be discovered. Who is he, why does he have a bullet hole in his forehead, and who is running around creating tableaux with corpses? Can Ruth figure any of this out?

Between a convoluted personal life and a twisty case of maybe-murder, there's a lot of ground to cover. I find these books to be compulsively readable. My only regret is that I will now have to control myself for a while instead of immediately grabbing book eight. I truly do want this series to last!

Postmortem / Patricia Cornwell

 

3.25 stars out of 5

OMG, how long ago did I first read this book? It must be well over 20 years ago, at least. At the time, I found it riveting. I'm less impressed this time around. I think it must have been one of the earliest forensic-based crime novels? Although detectives like Sherlock Holmes were depicted making deductions based on evidence at the crime scene, Cornwell took things a step further by making the medical examiner's office the focus of her fiction.

Kay Scarpetta is an easy main character to identify with. She's a woman in a largely male realm and there is plenty of hostility to deal with. Pete Marino is a jerk, making the reader like Scarpetta more. Never mind that he proves to be damn good at his job. Kay doesn't question herself very much, a pleasant change. Women tend to suffer from imposter syndrome, something that only plagues Kay when she's dealing with her niece, Lucy. Not that I think there is any good way to interact with Lucy as she is depicted. Cornwell makes her wildly precocious, at ten years of age already uber knowledgeable about computers and interested in guns.

Actually, I think it is the state of DNA research and the details of computer technology that make this book feel like a rusty old antique. Written when DNA was an unproven commodity, it was cutting edge. I remember being impressed by its inclusion during my first long ago reading. Now of course we expect DNA to solve investigations as a regular thing. I couldn't help but notice the other changes in tech, too. The computer diskettes, the programming commands, the answering machines, the absence of mobile phones. No one now would be able to avoid their boss's phone calls the way Kay does—the phone in the pocket can't be avoided. What doesn't change is the kids knowing more than the adults about computers!

It was interesting, knowing what future books would bring, to see Cornwell setting up the pattern that would dominate this series. The relationships between Kay, Lucy, Pete, and Benton are all there, starting to unfurl.

Stranger from the Tonto / Zane Grey

 

3 out of 5 stars

This is what happens when you're visiting for Christmas, run out of reading material, and have to cadge a book from your brother in law. I've been reading Zane Grey since I was a teen, but I don't think I'd ever read this book before. But it follows Grey's pattern, so there were no surprises.

Grey sure liked “pure" young women, living in threatening situations where their purity is desired by outlaws. His heroines are usually blonde and small, but good, brave riders. Lucy Bonesteel is just such a woman, just out of childhood and innocent about life in the real world. She's been raised in isolation in the backcountry of Utah, unaware of her father's reputation as an outlaw or his alternate identity as a rancher with a new wife and family. She hasn't had much female companionship and is sexually unaware as a result. (There’s no mention of her having a period, how she would deal with that, or how it was explained to her, important details in any young woman's life).

Kent Wingfield is also a typical Grey hero. He's young, handsome, good with a gun, and an excellent horseman. He loves the wild country and is honorable. He has fallen in love with Lucy's story before he has even met the girl. His courtship of Lucy is that of an honorable man--he's willing to kiss her, but marriage is uppermost on his mind.

As usual, Grey spends loving time on describing the scenery, reveling in the details of the desert and the canyons. He seems to have loved horses and dogs, natural companions for a hunter of his era. He did do some hunting, though his true love seems to have been fishing or maybe baseball. He writes of the trail so vividly that I keep thinking that his personal history should contain more horses!